Jointless woven-wire belt conveyer



H. R. HARDING. JOINTLESS WOVEN WIREIBELT CONVEYER.

APPLICATION FILED APR. H, 1921- Patented Dec.12,,1922.

H R a m M a Patented Dec. 12, 1922.

HIRAIVI R. HARDING, OF BALTIMORE, MARYIJLFILD, ASSIGWDEL "E0 THE FEELING FIACHII'IE COMPANY, INC., 0F BALTZIJIGRE,

TION O13 IMABYLAND.

IVIARYInhIiID, A CORPORA- J'OINTLESS W OVEN-"V7 113E BELT CONVEYER.

Application filed April 11, 1921. Serial No. 480,199.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HIRAM R. HARDING, a citizen of the United States, residing at 37 53. Liberty Street, Baltimore, in the county of Baltimore City and State of Maryland, have invented certain new and useful improve ments in Jointless W'ovenWVire Belt Corn vey'ers, of which the following is specification.

This invention relates to conveyers of the continuous belt type which may be employed for transferring goods from one place to another within factories, warehouses and stores, or may constitute the conveyer belt portion of an organized mechanism.

The mainapurpose of my invention is to provide a conveyor belt of woven wire which shall be light in weight while possessing great tensile strength.

In the following description I shall refer to the accompanying drawings which illustrate one form thereof and wherein Figure l is a side elevation of one end of a woven wire belt conveyer embodying my invention,

the drum or pulley being partly broken away; Fig. 2 is a fragmentary transverse sectional View of the same taken on the line 22 of Fig. 3; and Fig. 8 is a fragmentary top plan view of the woven wire conveyor belt.

It has heretofore been proposed to con 'struct wire belts of wire by making each mesh of the belt of separate short pieces of wire connected to the adjoining mesh sections by a link joint, so that each mesh section would be pivotally connected to its neighbors. Such linked mesh constructions are used largely for the wire supporting web of beds and couches but they do not have sufficient tensile strength to serve as con veyer belts.

I conceived the idea of constructing conveyer belts of interwoven steel wire wherein the longitudinal wire strands are continuous throughout the belt. It is known, however. that a wire which is frequently bent back and forth will very soon crystallize and finally break. I was enabled to successfully construct and use a conveyer belt with continuous longitudinal steel wire strands only after I made the discovery that crystallize tion could be avoided by making the pulleys or drums over which the belt runs of such a pitch diameter that the curvature of the pe riphery is less than thebend which will cause a permanentset in the wire. in other words the wire must not be curved or bent beyond its elastic limi when passing over the surface of the drum or pulley. The diameter of the drum or pulley required for a wire of any given size or gauge maybe determined with sufficient accuracy by bending a piece of the wire through arcs of different curvature and noting the radius of the sharpest curve over which the wire may be bent without losing its power to spring back when released. There is critical curve for each size of wire having the same characteristics, over which it may be bentwithout exceeding its elastic limit and when bent to a greater extent it power of springing back and becomes permanently set. This elastic prop erty of the steel wire which'causes it to spring back or straightenout as soon as it has left the end drums, gives my continuous steel-strand belt the inherent, property of tending to maintain the upper and lower reaches of the belt in parallel planes, free from kinks or waves, so that the belt is substantially taut throughout its extent.

Having determined the proper diameter of the driun for any given wire, it will be evident that the wire is never curved or bent permanently or beyond its elastic limit when passing thereover and consequently the molecular structure of the wire is not altered. In other words,a conveyer constructed inthis manner does not cause a crystallization or otherwise impair the integrity of the wire strands and consequently the full tensile strength of the wire is available.

My conveyor belt is formed of continuous lengths of steel wire 5 extending lengthwise and constitutingthe warp of the belt and cross wires 6 woven alternately over and under the wires 5 and spaced the same distance apart thereby forming squares throughout the belt. Every third crossmember is preferably double, as indicated at 6. At each side, the ends of the crosswires are bent around a wire cable 8. Sprocket chains 10 extend outside and parallel with the cables and at suitable distances are provided with links having integral ears or lugs 10, which are perforated to receive the double prongs of clips 12, by which the cables are secured to the chain. I prefer to electrically weld the prongs to the lugs 10,

' conveyer belt are provided upon either side with sprocket teeth 15 to engage the links or the sprocket chains. The central body portion 1? or the drums may be constructed of sheet metal-supported upon transverse ribs or bars 18 which are carried at either end by flanges 19 projecting inwardly from the rims of the spider rings 20. lhe body por tion or cylinder 17 of the drum extends outwardly somewhat from the base oi the sprocket teeth 15, the parts being so positioned that the tension wires 6 Will be on a median line through the links, as indicated in Fig. 2 to thereby cause the strains and stresses throughout the several parts oi the conveyer to be equalized.

I have stated that the wires 5 are continuous throughout the belt. In case the conveyer is longer than the wires which can be obtained, the meeting ends of different sections can be niaoe continuous by electric welding. The enormous loads which maybe carried by conveyer belts constructed in accordance with my invention will be appreciated by engineers. The tenlon'gitudinal warp messes sile strength of steel wires is very great even for wires of Very small guage or diameter and by reason of the combined tensile strength of the plurality of wires the carrycapacity of the belt is very large in proportion to its weight per squ re foot. Furthermore, the cables and sprocket chains augment the carrying capacity quite rnaterially.

I claim: 1

1. A belt conveyor comprising a belt hav ing a plurality of continuous parallel steel wires extending longitudinally thereof, transverse'wires interwoven with said longitudinal wires, continuous wirecables upon either side of the belt to which said trans verse wires are'secured, and drums over which the belt passes having a cylindrical surface of less curvature than that which causes a permanent set in the said wires.

2. A belt conveyer comprising a belt having a plurality of continuous parallel steel wires extending longitudinally thereof, transverse wires interwoven with said longitudinal wires continuous wire cablesupon either side of the belt to which said transmeans for securing the cables thereto at intervals throughout the length of the convey er.

lfn'testiniony whereof I aflix my signature.

HIRAM R. HARDING. 

